Method and system for authorizing and enabling anonymous consumer internet personalization

ABSTRACT

A system and method for customizing information presented to a user based on user preferences and/or interests. The system receives user preferences and/or interests and builds a user profile for the user based on those preferences and/or interests. The system receives a request from a website or application to access the user&#39;s profile. In response to this request, the system provides the website or application with access to the user&#39;s profile and generates one or more customized content items based on the user&#39;s profile, which may be embedded into, overlaid on the website or graphical user interface of the application. The system also allows the user to personalize their profile to generate customized content items on websites and applications that the user visits or uses.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/562,367, filed Dec. 5, 2014, entitled “Method and System forAuthorizing and Enabling Anonymous Consumer Internet Personalization”which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/963,658, filed Dec. 10, 2013, entitled, “Method and System forAuthorizing and Enabling Anonymous Consumer Internet Personalization,”which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Thisapplication is related to, but does not claim priority from U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/476,800, filed on Sep. 4, 2014, and entitled“Systems and Methods of Publishing Content From One or More Sources,”which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Some websites continuously collect data about users that visit the site.Current systems and methods of collecting data rely on aggregatefiltering techniques. However, users want privacy while visitingwebsites on the Internet, or at the very least they want to controlwhich sites collect data associated with the user. These users also wantwebsites to provide information that is of interest to them.

Various embodiments of the present systems and methods recognize andaddress the foregoing considerations, and others, of prior art systemsand methods.

SUMMARY OF THE VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

In general, in various embodiments, a computer-implemented method ofcustomizing information presented to a user comprises receiving, by aprocessor, information about a user's preferences. The processor buildsa profile for the user based on the received information. In particularembodiments, the processor receives a request from one of a firstwebsite and a first application to access the user's profile. At leastpartially in response to receiving the request from the one of the firstwebsite and the first application, the processor provides the one of thefirst website and the first application access to the user's profile.The processor also generates one or more customized content items basedon the user's profile that are configured to be integrated into the oneof the first website and the first application.

In other embodiments, a computer-implemented method of customizinginformation presented to a user comprises receiving, by a processor,information about a user's preferences, wherein the user's preferencesare obtained by tracking the user's activities on at least one of thewebsite and application. The processor builds a profile for the userbased on the received information. The method further comprisesreceiving, by a processor, a request from one of a first website and afirst application to access the user's profile and at least anotheruser's profile. At least partially in response to receiving the requestfrom the one of the first website and the first application, theprocessor provides access to the user's profile and the at least anotheruser's profile. The method further comprises generating, by a processor,one or more customized content items presented on the one of the firstwebsite and the first application based on the user's profile and the atleast another user's profile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of systems and methods for customizing informationpresented to a user are described below. In the course of thisdescription, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, whichare not necessarily drawn to scale and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a profile of interest DNA (hereinafter“PIDNA”) system in accordance with an embodiment of the present system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a computer, such as the PIDNA server ofFIG. 1, that is suitable for use in various embodiments;

FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart that generally illustrates various stepsexecuted by a profile module that, for example, may be executed by thePIDNA server of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 depicts a flow chart that generally illustrates various stepsexecuted by a personalization engine module that, for example, may beexecuted by the PIDNA server of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5-6 are exemplary screen displays of the system according tovarious embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the system according to variousembodiments;

FIG. 8 depicts a flow chart that generally illustrates various stepsexecuted by the PIDNA system; and

FIG. 9 is an exemplary management display of the system according tovarious embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that theinvention may be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Overview

A system and method, according to various embodiments, for building aProfile of Interest DNA (e.g., a PIDNA profile or user profile) for auser and presenting customized information to the user based on thePIDNA profile, which contains at least a profile module and apersonalization module. The Profile of Interest DNA may differentiateone user from another in the same way that DNA from the first user isdifferent from the DNA of the other user. However, the Profile ofInterest DNA is not genetic-based, but rather interest-based, preferencebased and/or demographic based. Thus, similar to how DNA defines thegenetics of a living organism, the Profile of Interest DNA defines theinterests, demographics, and/or behavior of a user. The PIDNA systemallows the user to anonymously create, own, and manage their PIDNAprofile and to determine which companies or providers of informationgain access to the user's PIDNA profile. The system also allows smallcompanies to gain a more equal footing in reaching consumers based onusing users' PIDNA profiles since the information collected in theprofile and access to the profile is controlled by the user and notlarge data collection companies or by large companies colleting andaggregating personal data across multiple owned properties. Thisinvention allows smaller firms to provide personalized services on parwith the large companies by allowing the user to manage and sharepersonal information with companies that is useful in providing theproducts or services which the consumer prefers and in the context inwhich they desire it.

Initially, the user establishes an account with the PIDNA system. Oncethe user logs into their account, the system may generate the user'sPIDNA profile by one or more of (1) scanning a user's social mediaaccounts for areas of interest, (2) allowing the user to build theirprofile by selecting areas of interest, and (3) tracking a user'spatterns when the user surf's the internet through the users use ofmobile applications, or directly from the user when the user uses aPIDNA application that can be run on a handheld computing device or on adesktop computing device. For example, when the user logs into theiraccount using the PIDNA application for the first time, the system mayrequest that the user link one or more social media sites to the user'sPIDNA account. Once these accounts are linked to the user's PIDNAaccount, the profile module scans the linked social media accounts andsearches for user preferences related to one or more areas of interest.The PIDNA system may initially generate the user's PIDNA profile basedon the one or more areas of interest found in the user's social mediaaccounts (e.g., FACEBOOK®, MYSPACE®, TWITTER®, LINKEDIN®, URBANSPOON®,etc.), email, or commerce sites that are interest-based rather thandemographically-based. The one or more areas of interests may be relatedto one or more topics including, but not limited to, entertainment,news, sports, lifestyle, money, finance, weather, autos, homes, dating,jobs, shopping, health, style, beauty, food, movies, travel, business,technology, science, etc.

After receiving the user's preferences, the system may also request thatthe user review one or more categories of information and manuallyselect those areas that are of interest to the user. This may be done inaddition to scanning the user's social media account or instead ofscanning the user's social media accounts. Finally, once a PIDNA profilehas been established, the system may be configured to track the user'sactivities on one or more websites, mobile applications, or through thePIDNA application to further develop the user's PIDNA profile. Thus, thePIDNA profile is not a static database since it is continually beingupdated as additional usage and behavior history of the user iscollected by the PIDNA system over time.

In various embodiments, the PIDNA profile may be graphically displayedto the user in a graphical visualization that represents the user'sdegree of interest in each topic. In various embodiments, the graphicalvisualization may be formed from a series of sub-bars that represent oneof many areas of interest where the length of each sub-bar isproportional to the user's interest in the particular topic associatedwith that sub-bar. For instance, where the user is more interested insports than news, the sports sub-bar of the graphical visualization willbe larger than the news sub-bar. In some embodiments, the sub-bar may becolor coded by topic of interest. For instance, the sub-bar may displaysports in orange and news in blue. In other embodiments, the graphicalvisualization may be displayed as any suitable shape. For example, thegraphical visualization may be a bar with the series of sub-bars alignedhorizontally to each other. In other embodiments, the graphicalrepresentation may be a pie chart or a series of rings where each ringrepresents a different topic and the radial width of a ring representsgreater interest in the topic associated with the ring. The graphicalvisualization may be embedded on any page displayed to the user in a webbrowser, it may be embedded in the graphical user interface for a mobileapplication, or it may be embedded in the graphical user interface forthe PIDNA application.

The system continues to refine the PIDNA profile using updatedinformation manually received from the user or based on the user'sactivities on a web browser or through their interactions on mobileapplications. That is, as the user surf's the internet or uses mobileapplications (e.g., Amazon's mobile application, Best Buys' mobileapplication, etc.) to read articles, research or purchase products, orparticipate in specific online activities, the system collects theinformation to further develop and refine the user's PIDNA profile.

The PIDNA system may use the user's PIDNA profile to generate customizedcontent for the user. For instance, a personalization module may selectand display customized content (e.g., articles on a webpage, product andservice recommendations, offers, coupons, suggestions to connect withother users having similar PIDNA profiles, recommendations for events oractivities, search suggestions, filtered TWITTER® feeds, etc.) that istailored to the user's interests based on the user's PIDNA profile. Forexample, the system may use the PIDNA profile of a user to filterTWITTER® feeds so that the user only views comments from those users whohave similar PIDNA profiles (e.g., exactly the same profiles, profileswhere 70% of the interests are the same, etc.). In various embodiments,the system may receive a request from the user to turn thepersonalization module (1) on or off, in general, (2) on or off for aparticular site or application, or (3) to manual where access to theuser's PIDNA profile is requested for each site or application. In anycase, when a website or application requests access to a user's PIDNAprofile, the website or application uses the PIDNA profile to customizethe information presented. In order for the personalization module toselect appropriate content, the personalization module may use aggregatefiltering, rule based filtering, generic algorithm based filtering,neural network based models, etc. to generate customized content,including commerce, software or people recommendations, to the user.

The system, according to various embodiments, is configured to receive arequest from a website or application that uses the PIDNA system toaccess a profile for a user that is surfing the website or using theapplication. In some embodiments, the user may configure the PIDNAsystem to automatically make suggestions for every website orapplication. In other embodiments, the user may configure the PIDNAsystem to request access to the user's PIDNA profile, which the user canmanually allow. If the request is approved (e.g., manually orautomatically), the personalization engine accesses the user's PIDNAprofile and uses the profile information to customize content presentedon the website or application. In particular embodiments, the user mayexclude certain types of websites or applications from accessing theuser's PIDNA profile. The user may also exclude websites or applicationsfrom accessing certain aspects of the user's PIDNA profile. Forinstance, the user may exclude advertising companies from accessing theuser's PIDNA profile related to the user's shopping interests.

In various embodiments, when two or more users, each having a PIDNAprofile, want to find areas of common interest to both users, the systemmay be configured to receive a request from multiple user's where thetwo or more user PIDNA profiles are used by the website or applicationto search for an area of interest that is common to the two or moreusers. This may occur when one user is seeking to connect with anotheruser using a particular website and the website wants to match the usersaccording to their interests. Another example is where two friends aresearching for a restaurant using a website or an application (e.g.,OPENTABLE®). In this case, the users can submit their PIDNA profiles tothe website or application to search for a restaurant that matches theusers' common interests.

Exemplary Technical Platforms

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant field, the presentsystems and methods may be, for example, embodied as a computer system,a method, or a computer program product. Accordingly, variousembodiments may be entirely hardware or a combination of hardware andsoftware. Furthermore, particular embodiments may take the form of acomputer program product stored on a computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-readable instructions (e.g., software) embodied in thestorage medium. Various embodiments may also take the form ofweb-implemented computer software. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized including, for example, hard disks,compact disks, DVDs, optical storage devices, and/or magnetic storagedevices.

Various embodiments are described below with reference to block diagramand flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatuses, (e.g., systems),and computer program products. It should be understood that each blockof the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations ofblocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively,can be implemented by a computer executing computer programinstructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto ageneral purpose computer, a special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus that can direct a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memoryproduce an article of manufacture that is configured for implementingthe functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

The computer instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer,partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partlyon a user's computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on theremote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computermay be connected to the user's computer through any type of network,including but not limited to: a local area network (LAN); a wide areanetwork (WAN); a cellular network; or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider).

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memoryproduce an article of manufacture that is configured for implementingthe function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. The computerprogram instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operationalsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer-implemented process (e.g., method) such that theinstructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Example System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a System 100 according to particularembodiments. As may be understood from this figure, the System 100includes One or More Networks 115, One or More Computing Devices 110 a,110 b (e.g., such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a wearablecomputing device, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, etc.), a PIDNAsystem 120 that includes a Profile Server 300A and a PersonalizationServer 400A, and one or more Third-Party Website Servers and/orApplication Servers 130. In other particular embodiments, the PIDNASystem 120 may include only the Profile Server 300A having a profilemodule 300 thereon, and the Personalization Module 400 is owned by athird party. It should be understood that in various embodiments, theProfile Module 300 and the Personalization Engine Module 400 may becollocated on a single server.

The One or More Networks 115 may include any of a variety of types ofwired or wireless computer networks such as the Internet, a privateintranet, a mesh network, a public switch telephone network (PSTN), orany other type of network (e.g., a network that uses Bluetooth or nearfield communications to facilitate communication between computingdevices). The communication link between the One or More ComputingDevices 110 a, 110 b and the PIDNA System 120 may be, for example,implemented via a Local Area Network (LAN) or via the Internet.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of the architecture forthe Profile Server 300A that may be used within the system 100. Itshould be understood that the computer architecture shown in FIG. 2 mayalso represent the computer architecture for any one of the One or MoreComputing Devices 110 a, 110 b and one or more Third-Party WebsiteServers and/or Application Servers 130 shown in FIG. 1. In particularembodiments, the Profile Server 300A may be suitable for use as acomputer within the context of the PIDNA System 120 that is configuredfor receiving information about a user's preferences, building a profilefor the user, receiving a request from a website to access the user'sprofile, providing access to the user's profile to the website, andgenerating a customized content item based on the user's profile.

In particular embodiments, the PIDNA Server 300A may be connected (e.g.,networked) to other computing devices in a LAN, an intranet, anextranet, and/or the Internet as shown in FIG. 1. As noted above, thePIDNA Server 300A may operate in the capacity of a server or a clientcomputing device in a client-server network environment, or as a peercomputing device in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.The PIDNA Server 300A may be a desktop personal computing device (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), acellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router, a switch orbridge, or any other computing device capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that computing device. Further, while only a single computing deviceis illustrated, the term “computing device” shall also be interpreted toinclude any collection of computing devices that individually or jointlyexecute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein.

An exemplary PIDNA Server 300A includes a processing device 202, a mainmemory 204 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM(RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 206 (e.g., flash memory, static randomaccess memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 218, whichcommunicate with each other via a bus 232.

The processing device 202 represents one or more general-purpose orspecific processing devices such as a microprocessor, a centralprocessing unit (CPU), or the like. More particularly, the processingdevice 202 may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC)microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor,very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, or processorimplementing other instruction sets, or processors implementing acombination of instruction sets. The processing device 202 may also beone or more special-purpose processing devices such as an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array(FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or thelike. The processing device 202 may be configured to execute processinglogic 226 for performing various operations and steps discussed herein.

The PIDNA Server 300A may further include a network interface device208. The PIDNA Server 300A may also include a video display unit 210(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), analpha-numeric input device 212 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 214 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 216 (e.g., aspeaker).

The data storage device 218 may include a non-transitory computingdevice-accessible storage medium 230 (also known as a non-transitorycomputing device-readable storage medium or a non-transitory computingdevice-readable medium) on which is stored one or more sets ofinstructions (e.g., the Profile Module 300) embodying any one or more ofthe methodologies or functions described herein. The Profile Module 300may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the mainmemory 204 and/or within the processing device 202 during executionthereof by the PIDNA Server 300A—the main memory 204 and the processingdevice 202 also constituting computing device-accessible storage media.The Profile Module 300 may further be transmitted or received over anetwork 115 via a network interface device 208.

While the computing device-accessible storage medium 230 is shown in anexemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term “computingdevice-accessible storage medium” should be understood to include asingle medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributeddatabase, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one ormore sets of instructions. The term “computing device-accessible storagemedium” should also be understood to include any medium that is capableof storing, encoding, or carrying a set of instructions for execution bythe computing device and that causes the computing device to include anyone or more of the methodologies of the present invention. The term“computing device-accessible storage medium” should accordingly beunderstood to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories,optical and magnetic media, etc.

Exemplary System Platform

As noted above, a system, according to various embodiments, is adaptedto receive a user's preferences, build a user profile, receive a websiterequest for access to the user's profile, provide access to the user'sprofile, and generate a customized content item based on the user'sprofile.

Various aspects of the system's functionality may be executed by certainsystem modules, including the Profile Module 300 and the PersonalizationEngine Module 400. The Profile Module 300 and the Personalization EngineModule 400 are discussed in greater detail below.

Profile Module

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of operations performed by an exemplary ProfileModule 300, which may, for example, run on the PIDNA Server 120, or anysuitable computing device (such as a suitable mobile computing device).In particular embodiments, the Profile Module 300 facilitates generatingand refining a user's PIDNA profile.

The system begins, in various embodiments, at Step 305 by receivinginformation about a user's preferences. In particular embodiments, theuser's preferences may be based on the user's interests (e.g.,entertainment, news, sports, lifestyle, money, finance, weather, autos,homes, dating, jobs, shopping, health, style, beauty, food, movies,travel, business, technology, science, etc.). In particular embodiments,the user's preferences information will not include demographicinformation associated with the user (e.g., the user's name, address,age, race, etc.). In other embodiments, the user's preferences maycontain demographic information. In some embodiments, the user'spreferences information may include one or more behaviors associatedwith the user. For instance, the user's preferences information mayinclude that the user reads articles related to a particular sport atleast once a day.

The system may obtain the user's preferences in a multitude of ways. Atstep 310, once the user establishes an account on the system, thesystem, may prompt the user to link one or more social media accounts tothe user's PIDNA system account. For example, the system may beconfigured to allow the user to link one or more of their FACEBOOK®,MYSPACE®, TWITTER®, LINKEDIN®, URBANSPOON®, etc. accounts to theirsystem account. In various embodiments, the system may receive theuser's preference information from a user's accounts on various websitesor applications. In particular embodiments, the system may receive auser's log-in information and all user preferences associated with theuser's log-in information for a particular website or application. Forinstance, where the user has logged-on to a particular website such asURBANSPOON® or opened the URBANSPOON® application on their mobile phone,the website or application may request that the user link their accounton the website or application with their PIDNA system account. Inanother example, the user's account on the PIDNA system may be linked tothe user's account on a customized website publishing system asdisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/476,800, filed on Sep.4, 2014, and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF PUBLISHING CONTENT FROMONE OR MORE SOURCES,” so that the topics of customized webpages createdby the user may be integrated into the user's PIDNA profile. Once theuser links the two accounts, whether through the PIDNA system or thewebsite or application system, the PIDNA system may receive userpreference information on cuisines that the user selects on the websiteor the application.

In various embodiments, once the user links one or more social mediaaccounts, web site accounts or application accounts to the user's PIDNAsystem account, the system examines the linked social media accountsusing textual analysis and creates a histogram or frequency of keywordsused or associated with the one or more social media accounts in orderto find clusters of words of phrases and their relative importance basedon their frequency—non-specific or trivial words or phrases (e.g. if,an, the, etc.) may be ignored. In particular embodiments, the systemwill build the PIDNA profile by associating the user's preferences(e.g., interests) with categories and/or subcategories. For example, invarious embodiments the system may associate particular preferences withthe categories of sports and news and then further divide the categoryof sports into subcategories such as golf, football, basketball,baseball, tennis, etc. For example, in various embodiments, the PIDNAsystem maps the clusters of words to associated categories and/orsubcategories. For example, the PIDNA system may detect multiple uses ofthe words “dollar”, “Yankees”, “stock”, and “Tiger Woods”. The PIDNAsystem may map the word clusters “dollar” and “stocks” to the category“money/finance” and the word clusters “Yankees” and “Tiger Woods” to thecategory “sports”. The word cluster “Yankees” may further be mapped to asubcategory “baseball” and the word cluster “Tiger Woods” may further bemapped to a subcategory entitled “golf”. In addition to the keywordmappings, the PIDNA system examines the user's manual entries receivedat Step 315 and accounts for these entries when building the user'sPIDNA profile.

At step 315, the system may instead of, or in addition to linking socialmedia accounts, present the user with a list of categories to choosefrom that represent the user's preferences, interests, or disinterests.In various embodiments, when a category is chosen, the system maypresent one or more sub-categories that the user may select to furtherdefine the user's preferences (or interests). In various embodiments,the system may receive the manual input from the user from any suitablecomputing device. In some embodiments, the manual input from the usermay include swiping a particular computing device's screen in a certaindirection (e.g., up, down, left, right, etc.) when a category isdisplayed. For example, the system may receive an up-swipe from theuser's computing device to indicate that the user is interested in aparticular topic and a down-swipe to indicate that the user is notinterested (e.g., disinterested) in a particular topic. In thealternative, the system may receive a right-swipe from the user'scomputing device to indicate that the user is interested in a particulartopic and a left-swipe to indicate that the user is not interested in aparticular topic. Furthermore, if the user is not interested ordisinterested in the particular topic, in various embodiments the usermay tap the screen to indicate that the user's feelings toward the topicare indifferent.

In other embodiments, the manual input from the user may includeselecting a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down on a particular computingdevice's screen. For instance, the system may receive a thumbs-up fromthe user's computing device to indicate that the user is interested in aparticular topic or a thumbs-down to indicate that the user is notinterested in a particular topic. In still other embodiments, the systemmay receive the user's preferences information from a form filled out bythe user. For example, the form may have checkboxes for interests suchas entertainment, news, sports, lifestyle, money, finance, weather,autos, homes, dating, jobs, shopping, health, style, beauty, food,movies, travel, business, technology, science, etc. Using the form, thesystem could determine what the user is interested in based on the checkmarks, and what the user is disinterested in based on the user leavingone or more checkboxes blank. In various embodiments, the system mayreceive the user's preferences information from a series of questionspresented to the user from which the system receives an answer from theuser. For example, the system may ask the user whether the user isinterested in sports, news, and weather and provide the user with theoptional answers of yes, no, or maybe, where yes signifies the user isinterested in a particular topic, no signifies the user is notinterested in a particular topic, and maybe signifies the user may beinterested in a particular topic.

In various embodiments, at Step 320, the system may build the PIDNAprofile substantially automatically after receiving the user'spreferences information. In particular embodiments, the system may buildthe PIDNA profile after receiving a request from the user to build thePIDNA profile. In some embodiments, the system may store the built PIDNAprofile for the user and associate the PIDNA profile with the user'saccount on the PIDNA system. In various embodiments, the PIDNA profileincludes the interests of the user. In other embodiments, the PIDNAprofile includes the non-interests of the user. For example, where theuser has indicated that the user is not interested in a particulartopic, the profile may include this information. In particularembodiments, the PIDNA profile includes identifying information for aparticular user to associate the PIDNA profile to the particular user.For instance, the identifying information may include a username andpassword associated with the particular user and/or the user's e-mailaddress.

Referring to FIG. 9, in various embodiments, the PIDNA system contains amanagement page 900 (e.g., an account user interface page) that allowsthe user to establish their account 910, update their preferences 912,link their PIDNA account to various social media accounts 914 andapplication accounts 916, etc. For instance, the management userinterface may include all of the user's past interests, and the user mayaccess the management user interface when the user manually updates theuser's PIDNA profile. In various embodiments, the management userinterface may allow a user to select a particular category, such assports 918, to expand the category to include subcategories such asgolf, football, basketball, baseball, tennis, etc. In some embodiments,the management user interface may be accessed via a web browser, via amobile application or through the PIDNA application. In someembodiments, the management user interface may display a log of thewebsites, applications, and other third-party companies that haverequested access to the user's PIDNA profile, the types of informationrequested by a particular website and/or application and thecorresponding information that the PIDNA system provided the requester.In other embodiments, the management user interface may be configured toallow the user to set up profile access preferences (e.g., automaticallyproviding access to the user's profile for certain third partyrequesters, requesting manual authorization for all requesters, etc.).

Referring again to FIG. 3, once the initial PIDNA profile is built inStep 320, at Steps 325, the PIDNA system tracks the user's website orapplication use and at step 330 the PIDNA system continues to build andrefine the user's PIDNA profile by tracking activity of the user on theInternet or on applications (e.g., mobile applications, etc.). Forinstance, the system may track the user's clicks, the length of timespent looking at a particular webpage, a particular article or aparticular image, the user's search terms, the user's purchases, and thewebsites visited by the user. In various embodiments, the system maytrack the user's activities on the internet by tracking the user'sactivities on the internet while using one or more of a mobile handheldcomputer, a smart phone, a desktop computer, and a tablet. In otherembodiments, the system may receive the user's preferences informationfrom a browser plugin provided to the user that is configured to captureinformation about the user's preferences and actions while using thebrowser. In still other embodiments, the system may receive informationthat the user enters into an account on a website or an account on amobile application (e.g., URBANSPOON®, YELP®, AMAZON®, BESTBUY®,OPENTABLE®, etc.) that is linked to the user's account on the PIDNAsystem.

In particular embodiments, the system may receive updates to the user'spreferences. In some embodiments, the system may receive updates to theuser's preferences by monitoring the online activity of the user asdescribed above. The system may then capture at least some of the onlineactivity of the user and categorize the online activity similar to theearlier categorized preferences. In various embodiments, the system maysubstantially automatically update the user's profile after receivingthe updates to the user's preferences. For example, once the systemreceives any changes or updates to the user's preferences, the systemwill automatically update the user's profile, which will allow theuser's profile to be dynamic because it is continuously updated by thePIDNA system. In other embodiments, the system may receive a requestmanually entered by the user to update the user's profile afterreceiving the updates to the user's preferences. For example, the systemmay alert the user that updates are available to the user based on theuser's preferences and request that the user select to update the user'sprofile.

In various embodiments, the PIDNA profile may be shown as a visualrepresentation that may be embedded or overlaid on a website orgraphical user interface for an application. In particular embodiments,the visual representation of the user's PIDNA profile may be shown inany suitable shape. In various embodiments, the representation may be inthe shape of a bar that is divided into sub-bars that each represents aparticular category, where the length of each sub-bar is proportional tothe number of times a particular word occurs in a word cluster. In someembodiments, the size of each sub-bar of the representation is based onthe number of times the user engaged in an activity related to theparticular category associated with the sub-bar. In particularembodiments, the bar sections may visually represent a percentage of theuser's total interests. For instance, where the user has equal interestsin sports, news, weather, and travel, the four categories will each bedepicted as an equal proportion of the total bar. In still otherembodiments, the system may build a graphical representation of theuser's preferences based on the subcategories of a particular category.For example, the system may build a bar that includes all of the usersinterests from which the user can select a particular category, such assports, to expand to display a second graphical representation of thecategory sports subdivided into subcategories for sports, which mayinclude subcategories such as golf, football, basketball, baseball,tennis, etc.

In other embodiments, the visual representation of the user's PIDNAprofile may be represented by a double helix similar to DNA or as aseries of rings where the width of any one ring is proportionate to theuser's interest in the category associated with the ring. For example,where the user is more interested in sports than news, the width of thesports ring will appear larger than the width of the news ring.

In various embodiments, the system may include the name of the categoryon each sub-bar. In particular embodiments, the system may include thename of the category and subcategory on the graphical representation. Inother embodiments, the system will include a portion of the name of thecategory or subcategory on the graphical representation. In particularembodiments, the system may color code the graphical representation suchthat each category is a different color and each subcategory is a shadeor variation of the color of the category to which it belongs. Forinstance, the system may color code the category of sports as blue. Inaddition, the system may then color code a subcategory, such as golf adifferent shade of blue such as light blue. In other embodiments, thesystem may arrange the categories on the graphical representation inascending or descending order based on what the user is most or leastinterested in.

Personalization Engine Module

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of operations performed by an exemplaryPersonalization Engine Module 400, which may, for example, run on thePIDNA Server 300A, or any suitable computing device (such as a suitablemobile computing device, a third party website server, an applicationserver, etc.). In various embodiments, the PIDNA System 120 may onlycontain the Profile Server 300A that interacts with multiple third partyPersonalization Servers 400. In particular embodiments, thePersonalization Engine Module 400 may facilitate generating customizedcontent items on a website or application by obtaining access to theuser's PIDNA profile and customizing the content based on the user'spreferences, interests and/or disinterests.

The system begins, in various embodiments, at Step 405, where the systemreceives a request from a first website, a first application, a webservice, etc. to access a user's profile. In some embodiments, the PIDNAsystem may receive a request to access one user's profile. In otherembodiments, the PIDNA system may receive a request from the firstwebsite, the first application, the web service, etc. to access theuser's profile in addition to a request to access at least one otheruser's profile. In various embodiments, the PIDNA system receives therequest from the first website, the first application, the web service,etc. substantially automatically after the user accesses the firstwebsite, the first application, the web service, etc. In variousembodiments, the first website, the first application, the web service,etc. may be a website, application, web service, etc. that requires theuser to log into the first website, the first application, the webservice, etc. before the user can access the contents of the firstwebsite, the first application, the web service, etc. In particularembodiments, the first website, the first application, the web service,etc. may be any suitable first website, application, web service, etc.seeking information about the user in an effort to customize the contentprovided to the user.

Continuing at Step 410, at least partially in response to receiving therequest from the first website, the first application, the web service,etc., the PIDNA system provides the first website, the firstapplication, the web service, etc. access to the user's PIDNA profile.In particular embodiments, at least partially in response to receivingthe request from the first website, the first application, the webservice, etc., the PIDNA system provides the first website, the firstapplication, the web service, etc. access to the user's profilesubstantially automatically. In other embodiments, the PIDNA system mayprovide the first website, the first application, the web service, etc.access to the user's PIDNA profile based on predetermined settings setby the user. In particular embodiments, the system may provide the firstwebsite, the first application, the web service, etc. access afternotifying the user that the first website, the first application, theweb service, etc. is requesting access to the user's PIDNA profile. Inparticular embodiments, the system may notify the user that the firstwebsite, the first application, the web service, etc. is requestingaccess to the user's PIDNA profile by sending an email to the user. Inother embodiments, the system may notify the users that the firstwebsite, the first application, the web service, etc. is requestingaccess to the users' PIDNA profile via a pop-up message, text message orany other suitable method of providing notification to the user.

In various embodiments, the PIDNA system may require the user tomanually authorize access to the user's PIDNA profile based onindividual preferences set by the user. For example, the PIDNA systemmay include a browser plug-in that the user installs in their local webbrowser. When the user navigates to a website that uses PIDNA profiles,the web browser notifies the user by opening a pop-up asking the user ifthe website can access the user's PIDNA profile. The user may allowaccess by clicking a “YES” button or deny access by selecting a “NO”button.

In other embodiments, the PIDNA system may be configured to notify theuser of a PIDNA profile access request by sending the user an email ortext notification that requests access to the user's PIDNA profile andthat requires the user to click a link contained in the email or textmessage authorizing the first website or first application to access theuser's PIDNA profile. In particular embodiments, user may change settingin the user's account on the PIDNA system that allows: (1) allrequesting websites or applications access to the user's PIDNA profileor (2) no requesting websites or applications access to the user's PIDNAprofile.

In particular embodiments, PIDNA system may provide the first website,the first application, the web service, etc. access to the user's PIDNAprofile by providing the first website, the first application, the webservice, etc. access to all or a part of the user's PIDNA profile. Invarious embodiments, the PIDNA system may provide the first website, thefirst application, the web service, etc. access to all informationcontained in the user's PIDNA profile. In particular embodiments, thePIDNA system may provide the first website, the first application, theweb service, etc. access to only a portion of the user's PIDNA profile.For example, where the first website, the first application, the webservice, etc. requesting access to the user's profile is a news website,the PIDNA system may provide the news website access to only the user'sPIDNA profile information related to the category of news.

In various embodiments, the PIDNA system may be configured to providethe first website, the first application, the web service, etc. accessto the user's PIDNA profile if the user receives a fee from the firstwebsite, the first application, the web service, etc. In particularembodiments, the fee may be set by the user. For instance, the user mayset the fee to $0.01 USD for each websites to access the user's PIDNAprofile. In another example, the website may set a predetermined paymentamount for users whose profile matches a predefined profile establishedby the website by some fixed percentage. For example, the website maypay a user $10.00 USD to access the user's PIDNA profile if the user'sPIDNA profile meets the requesting websites predefined profile by atleast 70%. In other embodiments, the PIDNA system may provide the firstwebsite, the first application, the web service, etc. access to theuser's PIDNA profile after receiving a fee from the user. For instance,the first website may require user's to pay a $0.01 USD fee for thefirst website to access the user's profile in order to customize thefirst website for the user.

The PIDNA system continues at Step 415 by generating one or morecustomized content items based on all or a portion of the user's PIDNAprofile. The customized content items are configured to be integratedin, embedded in, or displayed by the first website, the firstapplication, the web service, etc. In other embodiments, the customizedcontent items are configured to be integrated in, embedded in, ordisplayed by the web service. For example, on a computer, the user mayright click on a desktop, which causes the computer to open aspecialized PIDNA menu that provides the user with various options tointeract with the PIDNA system. One menu option may allow the user toselect a link to the management user interface so the user can changeaccount preferences, review profile request logs, etc. Another menuoption may provide the user with a search box that allows the user tosearch the internet for particular content that can be customized basedon the user's PIDNA profile.

In particular embodiments, the PIDNA system may generate the one or morecustomized content items as the graphical visualization of the user'sprofile and display the visualization to the user. In variousembodiments, the one or more customized content items may be contentdisplayed on a webpage associated with the first website. For example,the webpage may include articles that have been customized to includetopics that would be of interest to the user based on the user's PIDNAprofile. In particular embodiments, the one or more customized contentitems may be displayed in a widget that is associated with the website.In various embodiments, the one or more customized content items may bedisplayed on the first website using the browser plug-in. In someembodiments, the one or more customized content items may be displayedon a desktop or home screen of a computing device. In still otherembodiments, the one or more customized content items may be displayedby an application as content that is customized to the user's taste. Forexample, in the case the URBANSPOON® application, the customized contentmay be one or more restaurants that serve food that the user likes basedon the user's PIDNA profile. In yet other embodiments, the one or morecustomized content items may be sent to a third party server by a webservice and then displayed by a browser. For example, as mentionedabove, the user may enter a search for shoes using the specialized PIDNAmenu on a computer. The search may be performed based on the user'sPIDNA profile, which indicates that the user likes Jimmy Choo® shoes,Manolo Blahnik® shoes and likes to purchase shoes from Nordstrom's.Thus, once the search is submitted, a webpage for Nordstrom's may openthat only shows Jimmy Choo® and Manolo Blahnik® shoes in the user'ssize.

In other embodiments, businesses or firms may interact with the PIDNAsystem 120 and conduct a search of PIDNA profiles to locate anindividual or collection of people matching a very specific interestprofile. The search results could list PIDNA profiles of users withoutother identifiable information such as names or address, therebyprotecting basic privacy. Such a search may be accessible via a businessor sponsor interface from a website or application.

In some embodiments, the system may generate one or more customizedcontent items (e.g., to be integrated into the first website, the firstapplication, the web service, etc.) based on the user's PIDNA profileand at least one other user's profile. In particular embodiments, ingenerating the one or more customized content items (e.g., articles,information, commerce items, services, applications or people, etc.),the system compares the user's PIDNA profile to the at least one otheruser's PIDNA profile. In comparing the user's PIDNA profile and the atleast one other user's PIDNA profile, the system determinescommonalities between the user's PIDNA profile and the at least oneother user's profile. In some embodiments, after comparing the profiles,the PIDNA system suggests at least one customized content item to theuser via the first website or first application. Where there is not anexact match, the suggested at least one customized content item may be a“best fit” compromise between the user's interests and the at least oneother user's interests.

In particular embodiments, the at least one customized content item maybe a name of a restaurant based on commonalities from the user's and theat least one other user's PIDNA profiles. In other embodiments, the atleast one customized content item may be an activity (e.g., a sportsgame, a concert, a show, etc.) that would be appealing to the user andthe at least one other user. In still other embodiments, the at leastone customized content item may be whether the user and the at least oneother user are compatible. For instance, the user and the at least oneother user may be compatible based on similarities in business, socialbehavior, dating, etc. Thus, PIDNA profiles may be used by datingwebsites or applications that seek to match users based on commonalitiesin preferences, interests and other attributes that may be stored in theuser's PIDNA profile.

In various embodiments, when customized content is not available tomatch the exact interests of the user, the system may provide customizedcontent that is of a similar topic to one or more of the user'sinterests. For instance, if the user's profile indicates that the useris interested in golf, but the inventory of content available to thewebsite does not include content on golf, the system may instead providecustomized content for sports rather than for golf based on defaultrules in the user's PIDNA profile. In this way, of the user reads thepresented content, the system may gather additional information aboutthe user to update their profile and offer new content that matchesactions by the user.

At step 420, the PIDNA system integrates the customized content into thefirst web site or the first application. The customized content itemsmay be embedded into a webpage on the website, integrated into a pop-upscreen, overlaid on the webpage, integrated in an applet that is run bythe website or integrated in any other method. In some embodiments, thesystem may generate a customized webpage based on preferences andinterest of the user in the user's PIDNA profile. The generation ofcustomized webpages are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/476,800, filed on Sep. 4, 2014, and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS OFPUBLISHING CONTENT FROM ONE OR MORE SOURCES. In other embodiments, thecustomized content may be displayed as results in a mobile application.For example, when the user searches for a restaurant using a mobileapplication such as OPENTABLE®, the application may access the user'sPIDNA profile to determine which restaurants satisfy the user'spreferences and/or interests. Thus, the customized search results aredisplayed to the user by the mobile application alone, or in combinationwith other content.

In particular embodiments, the user's PIDNA profile may be used tocustomize content that the user sees on social media sites. For example,when a user reviews a twitter feed, the TWITTER® feed may be filteredusing the user's PIDNA profile so that only TWEETS® from other user'shaving a similar PIDNA profile are displayed to the user. Moreover,TWEETS® that match interests of the user's PIDNA profile may also beshown instead of, or in addition to, TWEETS® from other user's with asimilar PIDNA profile. For purposes of this disclosure, reference to asimilar PIDNA profile may be based on an exact match, a match of somepredefined percentage (e.g., a 60% similar PIDNA profile, etc.).

In various embodiments, the system, when executing the Profile Module300 and the Personalization Engine Module 400, may omit particularsteps, perform particular steps in an order other than the orderpresented above, or perform additional steps not discussed directlyabove.

Exemplary User Experience

Exemplary Graphical Display

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary graphical display 500 of the user's PIDNAprofile in the form of a subdivided bar that a user may encounter whenusing the Profile Module 300 and Personalization Engine Module 400. Asmay be understood from this figure, interests of the user may be dividedand/or color-coded into sub-bars 510, 512, 514, and 518. In addition,each sub-bar portion of the graphical display 500 is sized proportionateto the user's interests. For example, because the user has a greaterinterest in technology than sports, the technology sub-bar portion 518is larger than the sports sub-bar portion 510. In various embodiments,the system may receive from the user a selection of a particular sub-barsection of the graphical display 500 to customize the user's preferencesrelated to that section. For instance, if the graphical display 500depicts that the user is relatively uninterested in sports but the useris, in fact, very interested in sports, the user may select the sportssub-bar portion 510 to amend the user's preferences related to sports inthe user's PIDNA system account.

In various embodiments, the graphical display 500 may also include otheroptions for the user such as buttons to turn the graphical display on oroff as explained in more detail below. The graphical display 500 mayalso include the option to change the appearance of the graphicaldisplay 500. For example, user may elect to have the graphical display500 shown as a pie chart rather than the standard bar profile. Inaddition, PIDNA system may allow the user to change the colorsassociated with the various sub-bars of the graphical display 500. Forinstance, the user may want the news portion 514 to be red because thecolor red is likely to get the attention of the user.

FIG. 6 depicts a website 600 having a graphical display that can bedeactivated 612 or activated 614 embedded on the website 600. When thegraphical display 500 is activated 612, the activated graphical display612 appears in color. When the graphical display is deactivated 614, thedeactivated graphical display 614 appears in grayscale. The user mayswitch between the activated graphical display 612 and the deactivatedgraphical display 614 by clicking on the graphical display 500. As maybe understood from this figure, the activated graphical display 612 andthe deactivated graphical display 614 may be embedded into a webpage610, a user interface for an application (not shown) or overlaid overthe webpage 610 or the application user interface in an applet orwidget. When the user selects to use the activated graphical display612, the webpage 610 displays articles 616 that relate to the user'spreferences and/or interests. However, when the user selects to use thedeactivated graphical display 614, the webpage 610 may display the samearticles to the user that any other user would see regardless of theuser's preferences and/or interests.

In various embodiments, when the user has selected the activatedgraphical display 612, the user may click on a sub-bar portion 618 ofthe graphical display 500 to show articles that relate to thatparticular sub-bar. For example, the user may select the green techsub-bar portion 618 to view articles related to technology. As may beunderstood from this figure, because the user has an interest intechnology, the tech sub-bar portion 618 of the graphical display 500appears larger than the other sub-bar portions of the graphical display500.

Referring to FIG. 7, a schematic diagram of a third party site/datasource 700 is depicted. As may be understood from this figure,Behavioral Data 710 and Knowledge Data 712 are collected by the PIDNAsystem to generate the graphical display 500 of a user's PIDNA profile.The system may then use the PIDNA profile information to provide theuser with customized content data related to offers 714, content 716,products 718, and other data 720. That is, the PIDNA profile informationis used by a personalization engine 722 that uses the user's preferencesand/or interests in the PIDNA profile to determine particular offers714, content 716, products 718, and other data 720 to present to theuser. Thus, in some embodiments where the webpage is an e-commerce site(e.g., AMAZON®, etc.) the e-commerce site may rank particular technologyproducts higher than household products if the user's PIDNA profilecontains word clusters that are associated with technology. Furthermore,if a mobile application that allows users to search for restaurants isinteracting with the user's PIDNA profile, the Personalization Engine722 may rank Italian restaurants higher than other restaurants since theuser's PIDNA profile contains preferences and interests associated withItaly.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart that illustrates an overview of various stepsexecuted by the PIDNA system 800. As may be understood from this figure,the PIDNA system evaluates data, at step 810, such as transactions,conversations, and searches from consumer activity sources. The PIDNAsystem then applies a textual analysis engine to the data, at step 812.After applying the textual analysis, at step 814 the PIDNA system mapsthe analysis to marketing categories and subcategories and then createsor generates privacy and interest DNA (e.g., profile DNA), at step 816.At step 818, the PIDNA system stores the data in a database and appliesa visualization tool to the data, at step 820. At step 822, the PIDNAsystem may also apply an interface tool such as a widget or web accessto the data. The PIDNA system continues by using a PIDNA widget at thesite with the Personalization Engine, at step 824. At step 826, the datafrom the PIDNA system may be passed to the Profile Engine to create apersonalized experience for the consumer on a website or through anapplication. At step 828, using the Personalization Engine, the PIDNAsystem may track and collect data on the user's transactions andconsumer site behavior, which may be sent back to the PIDNA system sothat the user's PIDNA profile can be updated with new information, atstep 830. The PIDNA system continues this process as a cycle by addingthe collected data to the user's PIDNA profile so that the informationin a user's PIDNA profile is updated and refined over time.

Illustrative Examples

Group Discount Application

In a particular example, the PIDNA system may be implemented to enable agroup of users to connect to receive a group discount. The PIDNA systemmay also use the user's PIDNA profile to suggest particular coupons,offers, and events that match the user's preferences and/or interests.For example, the PIDNA system may use the location of a particular userto suggest offers nearby to the user. The PIDNA system may also use thelocation of another user with a user PIDNA profile to suggest offersthat require more than one person to receive the benefits of the offer.In various embodiments, the system may connect two users that aregeographically diverse to receive a group discount. In variousembodiments, the user may opt in or out of receiving group discountnotifications.

Group Meeting Application

In another illustrative application of the PIDNA system, the system maybe utilized in a group setting such as dating, business, social, etc. toallow users with similar preferences and/or interests to meet or connectwith one another. The PIDNA system may allow a user to specify that theuser's PIDNA profile may be visible to all other users with PIDNAprofiles. In various embodiments, the PIDNA system may allow a user tospecify that the user's PIDNA profile may be visible to other users withsimilar interests in their PIDNA profile. The PIDNA system may alsoallow a user to specify that it does not want to be connected to otherusers with particular preferences and/or interests that are not includedin the user's PIDNA profile as being of interest to the user. The PIDNAsystem may also suggest that two users connect based on thecompatibility of their respective PIDNA profiles.

Group Aggregation Recommendations Application

In yet another illustrative application, the system may aggregate users'PIDNA profiles to generate a recommendation to the users based oncommonalities between the users' PIDNA profiles. The system may compareusers' PIDNA profiles using a percentage of similarity where an exactmatch is not possible. For instance, where the users PIDNA profiles havesimilarities in 70% of the users' interests, the system may determinethat the users' PIDNA profiles are similar. The users may opt into thegroup aggregation recommendation application by sending a “hashtagcharacter” (e.g., #hashtag) from the users' phones to join a particulargroup. For instance, where a group of users wants to go out to dinnertogether, a first user may open an OPENTABLE® application on theirmobile phone. The application may be linked to the user's PIDNA systemaccount. Thus, the user may select an option in the application thatallows the application to make recommendations of places to eat based onone or more user's PIDNA profile. The application first provides a#hashtag for everyone in the group to text using their cellphones. Oncethe two or more users text the unique group #hashtag to the PIDNAsystem, the system compares the users' PIDNA profiles to determinecommonalities for the various group users. For example, the system maydetermine that everyone or a majority of users would prefer to eatGerman food. The application would then use this information for makingcustomized recommendations for a restaurant that would likely satisfyeveryone in the group. In some embodiments, the application may listonly restaurants that satisfy the commonality of all users or themajority of users. In other embodiments, the application would rank thecustomized recommended restaurants first and then other restaurantsbelow the customized content. The users may also aggregate user profilesfor any other suitable reason such as for engaging in politicalprotests, attending events, finding nearby activities, etc.

CONCLUSION

Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come tomind to one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains, havingthe benefit of the teaching presented in the foregoing descriptions andthe associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that theinvention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed andthat modifications and other embodiments are intended to be includedwithin the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms areemployed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense onlyand not for the purposes of limitation.

What is claimed:
 1. A computer-implemented method of building a userprofile that is used by websites, applications, or web services togenerate customized content for the user comprising: a. receiving, by aprocessor, information selected from a group consisting of: i. at leastone of a user's preferences, a user's interests, or a user's demographicinformation, wherein the at least one of the user's preferences, theuser's interests, or the user's demographic information is obtained bytracking the user's activities on at least one of one or more websites,one or more applications, or one or more web services, ii. at least oneof the user's preferences, the user's interests, or the user'sdemographic information obtained manually from the user; and iii. userinterests obtained from at least one social media account of the user;b. at least partially in response to receiving the information,building, by a processor, a profile for the user based on the receivedinformation, wherein the profile is configured to allow the user tocontrol access to the profile by one or more websites, one or moreapplications, or one or more web services; c. categorizing the receivedinformation into topics and subtopics; and d. generating, by aprocessor, a visualization of the user's profile and displaying thevisualization to the user.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim1, further comprising: a. tracking, by a processor, at least one ofwebsite usage, application usage, or web service usage by the user; andb. at least partially in response to tracking the at least one ofwebsite usage, application usage or web service usage by the user,updating, by a processor, the user's profile based on informationobtained from the at least one of website usage, application usage, orweb service usage.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,wherein tracking the user's website usage, application usage, or webservice usage further comprises providing the user with a browser pluginthat is configured to capture information about the user's preferencesas the user searches on one or more websites, one or more applications,or using one or more web services.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein a. the visualization comprises a series of coloredboxes adjacent to each other, b. each colored box represents a categoryof interest for the user, and c. the width of a respective one of thecolored boxes is based on the number of times the user engaged in anactivity related to a particular category.
 5. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein: a. the visualization is configured to allowthe user to click on a discrete one of the colored boxes to open asecond website that contains customized information associated with thecategory linked to the discreet colored box; and b. at least partiallyin response to receiving an indication that the user clicked on thediscrete one of the colored boxes, opening, by a processor, the secondwebsite containing customized information.
 6. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising: a. receiving, by a processor, arequest from the one or more websites, the one or more applications, orthe one or more web services to generate customized content for the userfor a set fee offered by one of the user or the one or more websites,the one or more applications, or the one or more web services; and b. atleast partially in response to receiving the request from the one ormore websites, the one or more applications, or the one or more webservices, providing, by a processor, access to at least some of theinformation in the user's profile to the one or more websites, the oneor more applications, or the one or more web services to allow the oneor more websites, the one or more applications, or the one or more webservices to generate customized content for the user.
 7. Acomputer-implemented method of customizing information presented to oneor more users comprising: a. receiving, by a processor, one or more userprofiles for one or more users; b. analyzing, by a processor, the one ormore user profiles to determine particular common interests of the oneor more users; c. at least partially in response to analyzing the one ormore user profiles, determining a common interest between the one ormore users based on at least one predetermined criterion; and d. atleast partially in response to determining the common interest of theone or more users, presenting, by a processor, customized information tothe one or more users.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7,further comprising: a. receiving, by a processor, a request from one ormore users to create a group at least partially based on the commoninterest of the one or more users; and b. at least partially in responseto receiving the request, creating, by a processor, the group of one ormore users based on the common interest.
 9. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 8, wherein receiving the request to create the groupfurther comprises: a. receiving, by a processor, from one or more usersa hashtag character; and b. at least partially in response to receivingthe hashtag character, creating, by a processor, a group consisting ofall users who sent the hashtag character.
 10. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 7, wherein the predetermined criteria is that the commoninterest satisfies at least 70% of the interests for the one or moreusers.
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein thecustomized information further comprises one or more recommendations,wherein the one or more recommendations is selected from a groupconsisting of: a. restaurant recommendations; b. activityrecommendations; c. connection recommendations between the one or moreusers; and d. coupon recommendations.